Men's Golf Headline

Saturday January 31, 2004No. 1 Men's Golf In First At SunTrust Gator Invite

Senior Camilo Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) fired rounds of 70 and 69 to sit in third place at one-under as No. 1 Florida stands in first place by eight strokes at the 27th annual SunTrust Gator Invitational after the opening two rounds of play Saturday at the University Golf Course.

Alabama-Birmingham's Chris Cousins leads the field after shooting 67-70 = 137 at the par 70, 6,701-yard course. LSU's Garrett Prather is alone in second after rounds of 68 and 70 with Villegas rounding out the top three.

Florida is at one-over after opening rounds of 281 and 280, while UAB is second eight shots back (283-286 = 569) and Kentucky third 11 shots back (285-287 = 572).

The Gators were consistent throughout the day as no Florida player shot higher than 74 and the Gators' highest counting score was a 71 in windy conditions that saw just three players under par after the first two rounds.

"I thought that the key today was our consistency," Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. "That was actually pretty unbelievable. You're talking about 12 rounds within three shots of each other - that's pretty unusual, so I was very pleased with that."

Florida sophomore Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.) was the next highest Gator and sits in a tie for fourth at an even-par 140 after shooting a pair of 70s on the day. He was followed by sophomore Ryan Cochran (Paducah, Ky.) who is tied for eighth at two-over after two rounds of 71.

Competing as an individual, sophomore Duke Butler IV (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) is also tied for eighth after posting a pair of 71s. Sophomore Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and freshman Jessie Mudd (Louisville, Ky.) are both tied for 20th after each shot rounds of 74 and 70 to finish at 144 (+4).

The third and final round of the SunTrust Gator Invitational will be played Sunday with the first tee time set for 8 a.m. at the University Golf Course. Admission to the public is free.